# Installation using existing scheme with luks/btrfs **URL:** \ **Category:** EndeavourOS installation\ **Created:** [June 16, 2022, 6:28pm UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/installation-using-existing-scheme-with-luks-btrfs/28213 "2022-06-16T18:28:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![manfredlotz](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/manfredlotz/32/56126_2.png) [@manfredlotz](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/manfredlotz)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2022, 6:28pm UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/installation-using-existing-scheme-with-luks-btrfs/28213/1 "2022-06-16T18:28:32Z")
I am thinking about installing Endeavor using an existing scheme of volumes like this luks and btrfs with subvolumes /dev/nvme1n1p1: /boot /dev/dev/nvme1n1p2: /boot/efi @: / @ home: /home @data … some other subvols I was not able to tell the installer to use `/dev/nvme1n1p1`: `/boot` and reformat `/dev/dev/nvme1n1p2`: `/boot/efi` and reformat subvol `@`: `/` and recreate the subvol (I am also happy to rename `@` to `@old` and specify a new @ subvol for /) subvol `@home`: `/home` as is. Is this possible to do? ---
**Author:** ![dalto](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/dalto/32/5577_2.png) [@dalto](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/dalto)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2022, 7:37pm UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/installation-using-existing-scheme-with-luks-btrfs/28213/2 "2022-06-16T19:37:02Z")
If you are trying to install into existing subvols, I don’t think that is possible. If you are trying to install into an existing partition, I believe that is possible. You would want to test this before trying it with your real data but I believe if you tell it to re-use a btrfs partition and mount that partition at at `/`, it will create the subvols inside that existing partition. However, if there are any duplicates it will fail. You could edit `/etc/calamares/modules/mount.conf` and remove `@home` from the list of subvols it will try to create. As long as you rename you existing `@` before starting I believe that will work. Then you can mount `@home` and `@data` post install. ---
**Author:** ![manfredlotz](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/manfredlotz/32/56126_2.png) [@manfredlotz](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/manfredlotz)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2022, 3:01am UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/installation-using-existing-scheme-with-luks-btrfs/28213/3 "2022-06-17T03:01:08Z")
Thanks @dalto . Sounds good what you propose. Installing into existing luks/btrfs is important. Before starting install I could rename existing subvols `@` to `@save` and `@home` to `@home.save` so that later on (post-install) I could delete the `@save` subvol and rename back my `@home.save` subvol. I will try out things in a virtual machine before doing it in real life. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![manfredlotz](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/manfredlotz/32/56126_2.png) [@manfredlotz](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/manfredlotz)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2022, 6:01pm UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/installation-using-existing-scheme-with-luks-btrfs/28213/4 "2022-06-17T18:01:52Z")
Hm, things don’t seem to work. I installed Endeaver using my scheme /boot: ext4 /boot/efi: fat32 (boot flag) /: `@` subvol /home: `@home` subvol That’s fine. Now booted again with the Endeavour ISO, ran the installer and chose `Manual partitioning` I can select `/dev/sda3` which is seen as LUKS. When editing I could choose a mount point `/` but there is no way to provide the luks passphrase. Later on the installation failed… ---
**Author:** ![dalto](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/dalto/32/5577_2.png) [@dalto](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/dalto)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2022, 6:03pm UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/installation-using-existing-scheme-with-luks-btrfs/28213/5 "2022-06-17T18:03:59Z")
What happens if you unlock the luks partition prior to running the installer? ---
**Author:** ![manfredlotz](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/manfredlotz/32/56126_2.png) [@manfredlotz](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/manfredlotz)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2022, 6:06pm UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/installation-using-existing-scheme-with-luks-btrfs/28213/6 "2022-06-17T18:06:49Z")
Also failure during installation ---
**Author:** ![dalto](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/dalto/32/5577_2.png) [@dalto](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/dalto)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2022, 6:12pm UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/installation-using-existing-scheme-with-luks-btrfs/28213/7 "2022-06-17T18:12:59Z")
I have never tried it with LUKS unfortunately. What is your end goal with the install? Why are you installing into an existing install? ---
**Author:** ![manfredlotz](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/manfredlotz/32/56126_2.png) [@manfredlotz](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/manfredlotz)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2022, 6:15pm UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/installation-using-existing-scheme-with-luks-btrfs/28213/8 "2022-06-17T18:15:48Z")
I have an existing system (my laptop) which is installed (except /boot, /boot/efi) in btrfs subvols. The SSD is 1TB and data without the `@` subvol is about 500GB. So it is clear that I am not happy to install from scratch and then to recover 500 GB from backup into various subvols. ---
**Author:** ![manfredlotz](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/manfredlotz/32/56126_2.png) [@manfredlotz](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/manfredlotz)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2022, 7:27am UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/installation-using-existing-scheme-with-luks-btrfs/28213/9 "2022-06-18T07:27:52Z")
Is there a chance to do an installation from command line where I could mount fs before calling the install command? ---
**Author:** ![pebcak](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/pebcak/32/100472_2.png) [@pebcak](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/pebcak)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2022, 7:31am UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/installation-using-existing-scheme-with-luks-btrfs/28213/10 "2022-06-18T07:31:08Z")
> [@manfredlotz](#): > > installation from command line You could use EnOS’ live session to do an Arch install ([By the Wiki Way](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Installation_guide)) and then add EnOS’ repo to it, install for EnOS specific packages and perhaps the theming if you like. ---
**Author:** ![manfredlotz](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/manfredlotz/32/56126_2.png) [@manfredlotz](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/manfredlotz)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2022, 8:35am UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/installation-using-existing-scheme-with-luks-btrfs/28213/11 "2022-06-18T08:35:24Z")
Thanks @pebcak . Sounds good. I think I will go this way. Of course, I will first play with things in a virt machine. The good side effect will be that in the end I know much more about the “arch way” in general… In the end I will report back here. ---
**Author:** ![manfredlotz](https://forum.endeavouros.com/user_avatar/forum.endeavouros.com/manfredlotz/32/56126_2.png) [@manfredlotz](https://forum.endeavouros.com/u/manfredlotz)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 7:00am UTC](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/installation-using-existing-scheme-with-luks-btrfs/28213/12 "2022-07-09T07:00:24Z")
Over time I had changed my mind and did a new install on the SSD. Afterwards I restored stuff. Of course, I had to deal with issues here and there when customizing things the way they were before. But this is business as usual in such situations. So, finally all went well.